Book review: 3 Books on Food, Nutrition and Wellness

1. Don't Lose Your Mind Lose Your Weight
 
Author: Rujuta Diwekar
Publisher: Random House India
Pages: 288
Price: Rs 199
Genre: Non Fiction / Self-help / Health / Nutrition
Rating: 10/10
Format: Paperback

 Of all the books I have ever read about food and nutrition, this book has been the best and the simplest to follow. I first read this book about 4 years back and incorporated a lot of learnings into my lifestyle. I benefitted tremendously along the way; but no matter how motivated you had been, you lose some amount of enthusiasm as time passes. So, I re-read it recently.

I first read about Rujuta Diwekar when Kareena Kapoor accredited her for her own metamorphosis during Tashan.

When Rujuta wrote this book, it was lapped up by everyone. The best thing about this book is its simplicity. The book is easy to read, even for non-readers. The language is very simple; in fact, it is very conversational (with a liberal use of hinglish). This was perhaps the first time a nutritionist talked about the wisdom of eating traditional Indian food and giving more importance to local food.

She tells you to follow some basic principles and use your common sense. For example, don’t start your day with tea or coffee but with a fruit. She asks you to eat every 2 hours and keep the food portions small. Eat more during the day. Food should be directly proportional to your level of activity. Give importance to nutrition over calories. Add Ghee to your daily diet. There are several such nuggets of information which are easy to understand and adopt. Once you understand the basic principles, you can plan your own diet according to your lifestyle. But she cautions, just eating right without exercising is only half the battle won. Both are equally important. She writes “….exercise is a part of adopting a better lifestyle but it is NOT an alternative to eating right.”

She says that food has unnecessarily been made into a villain, when in fact; all food is good if eaten wisely. Follow a diet which you can follow all your life. Any sort of extreme diet doesn’t work because they are not sustainable. This is what I love the most about this book, you are not asked to eat some fancy or exotic things, you just need to eat regular Indian food – but you must take care of the proportions and timing.  

I have always recommended this book to everyone and cannot say enough how life-altering this can be. It is every bit worth the time and money.

If you want to read only one book on food and nutrition, this has to be it. I have also read the author’s second book ‘Women and the Weight Loss Tamasha’, but it didn’t appeal to me much. I do wish to read her latest book ‘Indian Superfoods’ though.

2. The Great Indian Diet

Author: Shilpa Shetty Kundra, Luke Coutinho
Publisher: Random House India
Pages: 288
Price: Rs 299
Genre: Non Fiction / Self-help / Health / Nutrition
Rating: 7/10
Format: e-book 

Shilpa Shetty has, unarguably, one of the best bodies in Bollywood. She is a strong proponent of healthy living. She managed to shed all the weight she had gained during her pregnancy through healthy eating and exercising. I had read some excerpts from the book and found it interesting. This book has been co-authored by Luke Coutinho who is a nutritionist, master coach and mastermind behind GOQii’s lifestyle and health coaching model. 

In its approach towards healthy eating, this book is similar to Rujuta’s ‘Don’t Lose Your Mind…’ but it certainly has a lot of additional information about different things that create the Great Indian food. 

It dwells into the evolution of Indian food, the incredible health benefits of common spices, different oils and variety of grains that we usually eat in Indian homes, the Acidic and Alkaline food, reading labels before buying packaged food, and so on. 

Obviously, different books and authors bring different things to the table, so one needs to use common sense and not blindly follow anything. Shilpa recommends 3 main meals and 2 in-between meals as against Rujuta’s recommendation of eating every 2 hours. Shilpa starts her day with tea, while Rujuta’s first principle talks about never to start your day with tea or coffee. 

In my opinion, this can be a good book to read in addition to Rujuta’s Don’t LoseYour Mind, Lose Your Weight’.

3. Eat Delete: How to Get Off the Weight Loss Cycle for Good

Author: Pooja Makhija
Publisher: Collins
Pages: 248 
Price: Rs 199
Genre: Non Fiction / Self-help / Health / Nutrition
Rating: 6/10
Format: Paperback

I have a fascination for books on food, nutrition and health. I have read quite a few books in this genre and several are on my TBR list. It never kills to learn more, right? You always take away something useful from each one of them.

This book came to me a long time back through the publishers. Pooja Makhija is also a celebrity nutritionist (like Rujuta Diwekar). 

The cover page is vibrant and appealing. The book comes with a little booklet to record your diet. The back cover informs: For the first time in India, a leading nutritionist has worked with psychologists to give you a combined mind-body weight loss solution. Figure out not just what to eat, but also why you eat the way you do. Tackle the problem at the source.

Much of the initial part of the book dwells into convincing the reader that food is not an enemy, neither should it be considered entertainment. As they say ‘it’s all in the mind’. I have read this often about running too. To beginners, even 1 Km looks impossible but people are doing ultra-running like it is a jog in the park. So, Pooja targets the psychology of people first in her book. Will power is not something that you are born with; you can cultivate it with practice. If you want to lose weight, you need a strong will power. She has even given tips on how to avoid a party or how to stick to your healthy eating plan if you must attend a party, because most people flounder when they eat out. 

There are questions which show you if you are in the red zone of weight loss. The book discusses different mindsets of people and why inspite of the fact that so many people want to lose weight, they even know that they should be eating healthy; and yet their will power is not strong enough.

In her book, Pooja also talks about the significance of eating frequently and exercising. She advises how one can go about restricting certain food items initially to achieve the desired weight loss. She says “Whatever you want to eat can be re-integrated into your system when you have lost the weight you wanted to. Long term weight loss is about balance, proportion and control.”

She has certainly put me into a spot by saying that drinking warm lemon water can cause bone leeching! I haven’t found any solid proof to support this; on the contrary I have found several articles on benefits of drinking that. I even checked with a doctor, who said that lemon water may not have any benefit (though I disagree) but it surely does no harm.

Personally, I found this book as an average read, however, the experience of reading any book is unique to every reader. To someone who hasn’t read anything on food and nutrition and requires some conditioning of the mind to get on the path of eating healthy, this book can certainly offer much more.    

Review Book Courtesy: HarperCollins India

Book Review: Train to Pakistan by Khushwant Singh

Title: Train to Pakistan

Author:Khushwant Singh

Publisher: Ravi Dayal Publisher

Pages: 207
Price: Rs 195

Genre: Fiction / Historical fiction / India

Rating: 7/10

Format: Paperback

About the book [from the cover flap]

Train to Pakistan was first published in 1956 and is now widely accepted as being one of the classics of modern Indian fiction. The novel has steadily grown over the years.

The novel has implications which reach far beyond the little village on the frontier between India and Pakistan, where its action takes place. It is the summer of 1947. The frontier has become a scene of rioting and bloodshed. But in the village, where Sikhs and Muslims have always lived peaceably together, Partition does not yet mean much. Life is regulated by the trains which rattle across the nearby river bridge. Then a local money-lender is murdered. Suspicion falls upon Juggut Singh – the village gangster who, when not in jail, is carrying on a clandestine affair with a Muslim girl. A Western educated Communist agent is also involved. A train comes over the bridge at an unusual time and the villagers discover that it is full of dead Sikhs. Some days later the same thing happens again. The village becomes a battlefield of conflicting loyalties, and neither Magistrate nor police can stem the rising tide of violence. It is left to Juggut Singh to redeem himself by saving many Muslim lives in a stirring climax.

Train to Pakistan, with its fine descriptions of village and river, and its study of characters under stress, is an exciting novel, both intellectually and emotionally. Khushwant Singh makes his readers share the individual problems of loyalty and responsibility facing the principal figures in his story, and to understand the human implications of a momentous historical event.

Thoughts:

Khushwant Singh’s Train to Pakistan is a famous book like Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children (which I have not been able to finish, by the way, despite three attempts) or Vikram Seth’s A Suitable Boy (which I found underwhelming). I don’t know what it is about these widely acclaimed books, most of the time they are weighed down by the baggage of their fame and end up underwhelming. So, I was apprehensive. 

I have read two more books on Partitions – Ice-Candy Man by Bapsi Sidhwa and Partitions by Amit Majumdar. And I have liked both of them. That time in history evokes immense curiosity among people from this subcontinent. It is hard to believe, today, that something of such magnitude happened right here, in our country, not too long ago. We keep seeking such stories from our shared history to make sense of such an event that left millions of people killed, orphaned, raped or displaced. How could people like us do this to their fellow countrymen, even close friends?

Train to Pakistan attempts to explain perhaps that incredulity in us. How could this happen? Mano Majara is a fictitious village populated with Muslims and Sikhs predominantly (with only one Hindu family), who live in harmony. In a short book of 200 pages, much space has been dedicated to the life in this village, and not too much on individual characters. When the country is going through the turmoil of partitions and its after-effects; this quaint little village remains unaffected, even surprised at the turn of events. It is difficult for them to fathom how people from the same village could turn hostile towards each other when they should have fought for their friends, so what if they belonged to a different community.

But that is only till real tragedy hits them. The arrival of a train full of corpses acts as a catalyst, and people could not remain unaffected for too long and turned murderous with little instigation because they are only human. 

The village is the central character in this book, all other characters play secondary roles. Though I am a reader who usually seeks identifiable characters, I still liked this book. Khushwant Singh’s writing is no doubt the best thing about it. If you would ask me, if this book is one of those must-reads; I would say – No! But if you appreciate good writing and if that thrills you as a reader; then sure.

Here are a few lines often quoted from the book:

“India is constipated with a lot of humbug. Take religion. For the Hindu, it means little besides caste and cow-protection. For the Muslim, circumcision and kosher meat. For the Sikh, long hair and hatred of the Muslim. For the Christian, Hinduism with a sola topee. For the Parsi, fire-worship and feeding vultures. Ethics, which should be the kernel of a religious code, has been carefully removed.”

Read more quotes from the book here.

Image credit

Book Review: The Bear in the Cave by Michael Rosen and Adrian Reynolds

Title: The Bear in the Cave 

Writer: Michael Rosen

Illustrator: Adrian Reynolds

Publisher: Bloomsbury

Pages: 32
Genre: Children's literature / Fiction

Rating: 10/10

Format: Paperback (includes Audio CD)

Suitable for: 2 years+

About the Book (from the website):

A very happy bear hears the sounds of the city from his quiet home by the sea and decides to find out what city life is like. Buying the ticket and travelling on the train is all very exciting. And so is the city! But after a while the bear finds the city a little too noisy and a little too busy - and people are beginning to laugh at him. He feels very sad and alone, until four children find him and show him the way home, with much fun along the way. 

Thoughts: 

I chanced upon this book while hunting for some good story books for my son. I was not aware about its celebrated author, Michael Rosen, of ‘We’re Going on a Bear Hunt’ fame. But this book took me by surprise. It clicked with my 3 year old from the first day, and then we read it every day for about a month. He is still not tired of this book.

First of all the illustrations are gorgeous. I am totally in love with them. Secondly, the story is engaging and dynamic. It is interesting to follow the bear through the city in his adventure. Through the bear’s eyes, the young kids look at different aspects of city life.

Another very attractive aspect of this book is the use of onomatopoeia (yes, I just discovered this word, which means ‘a word that phonetically imitates, resembles or suggests the source of the sound that it describes’). In simple words, the author has used similar-sounding, rhyming words. We all know how kids love such tongue-twisters. 

Sample these lines:

“And I play with the waves all day.

Splishety splash

Splishety splash

Splishety splashety splish.”

Or these:

“The sound of the city in my ears.

Vroomy vroom

Vroomy vroom

Vroomy vroomity vroom.”

Moreover, this book is a great bedtime book despite all the commotion and laughter-inducing repetitive / rhyming words because it slows down towards the end. After much splashing about in the waves, the kids and the bear go to sleep inside the cave, surrounded by the tranquility of the sea at night.

It is a must-read. You are going to love reading this to your kids as much as the kids are going to enjoy listening to the adventures of the bear.  

An Inside view of the book:

Book Review: The Newlyweds by Nell Freudenberger

Title: The Newlyweds

Author: Nell Freudenberger

Publisher: Penguin

Pages: 335
Price: Rs 399

Genre: Fiction / Contemporary

Rating: 7/10

Format: Paperback

From the Back Cover:

Amina met George online. Within months she has left her home in Bangladesh and is living in George’s house in the American suburbs. Theirs is a very twenty-first-century union, forged from afar yet echoing the traditions of the arranged marriage.

But as Amina struggles to find her place in America, it becomes clear that neither she nor George have been entirely honest with each other. Both have brought to the marriage a secret - a vital, hidden part of themselves – which will reveal who they are and whether their future is together or an ocean apart.

My thoughts:

The first reason to read this book was its cover page. I loved it. The title appealed to me too; however, the book is not about ‘newlyweds’ in the strict sense of the word. The story has been narrated by Amina Mazid of the time when she considers herself a newlywed. She clarifies that usually a couple would be considered newlywed till their first anniversary, which is the time they need to settle down in their new life. But in her case, until the time her parents join her in America she would not be truly settled.

Her parents’ only child, Amina wants to get away from her circumstances. Hailing from Bangladesh, her childhood and growing up years were difficult. She even had to drop out of school because the money was scarce. George, who is from America, embodies her chance to escape from the bleak future she foresees for herself in Bangladesh.   

Both Amina and George find their own reasons to believe that they would complement each other in marriage, but when they actually begin their journey, there are a few surprises in store. The book surely reflects the reality of an arranged marriage well. People keep their best foot forward; and when they actually start living together, the reality of how a person is a mix of several things - not all good, not all bad – dawns.

I am in conflict about the story. There is nothing spectacular about it and yet there are a few above average real moments. t is not very clear why George would want to marry someone from a dramatically different background, different upbringing, values and beliefs. Moreover, irrespective of the fact that it is about newlyweds, this is certainly not a romance novel. But, give it a shot.

Here are a few lines quoted from the book:

 “..wasn’t that what it was like for all newlyweds? ……. It felt strange until one day it didn’t.”

“It wasn’t that George was old but that he felt sorry for himself that drove her crazy. If her father was Thunder, then George was Smoke – and how could you argue with someone who began to disappear as soon as you opened your mouth?”

“What a strange thing, she thought, to find out one day that you had built your whole life on a mistake, and the next to discover that this fact would allow you to have your dearest wish.”

Image source: GoodReads

Book Review: Partitions by Amit Majmudar

Title: Partitions

Author: Amit Majmudar

Publisher: Oneworld Publications

Pages: 216
Price: Rs 350

Genre: Fiction / Historical fiction / India

Rating: 9/10

Format: Paperback

From the Back Cover:

July 1947. India is torn in two. Violence erupts on both sides of the new border and waves of refugees flee the carnage and chaos.

Fighting to board the last train to Delhi, six-year-old Hindu twins Shankar and Keshav are torn from their mother and must begin a terrifying trek to find her again. A young Sikh girl, Simran Kaur, having escaped the honourable death planned for her by her father, dreams of a spiritual sanctuary at the temple of Amritsar. And Ibrahim Masud, a timid doctor driven from his home, treats all those he finds along the way as he struggles towards the new state of Pakistan.

This is the story of their journeys across a ravaged land, of the acts of compassion and cruelty that shape their new lives and their new nations.

My thoughts:

The first time I came across ‘Partitions’ by Amit Majmudar was while I was reading about ‘the Ice-Candy Man’ by Bapsi Sidhwa; and after having read both the books, now I know why the parallels had been drawn. Both the books are set against the partition of India in 1947. Both the books follow the changing circumstances of a set of characters before and after the partitions. What also connect these books are their unusual yet relatively neutral narrators. The former has been narrated by a spirit; while ‘the Ice-Candy Man’ has been narrated by a young Parsi girl.

‘Partitions’ is a fictional account of the plight of common people who were affected during that period in history which is often remembered for the extent of violence and uprooting of millions of people. The story has been narrated by the spirit of the twin children’s father, Dr. Roshan Jaitly. Although he died a few years ago, Dr Jaitly’s spirit still watches over his children because as a dead person he has the ability to foresee their future. In the beginning, the three stories run parallely taking the readers through the turn of events which eventually lead the characters to each other. These characters from different religious groups unwittingly come to each other’s succor, flouting prevalent suspicions for people from other religion. And therefore, irrespective of the painful circumstances, this story is surprisingly more uplifting than depressing.

The author has a beautiful, poetic style of writing. His prose is fresh and captivating. In a very well-handled back and forth between past-present-future and parallel stories of the four characters, he narrates a story that shows how humanity and empathy triumph over mindless hatred. Without having any personal connection with the partitions, it is commendable how he has been able to achieve a narrative that is so soulful.

This book will appeal to most readers of fiction, and more so to those who are interested in reading about what people went through during partitions.  

Here are a few lines quoted from the book:

“Some killing must be done. It is a form of communication, the only kind that can cross the partitions between this country and its neighbor, between this world and the next. Their enemies must hear the deaths, and know rest.”

“She pauses there, filling with admiration and adoration. The imitation-love a kind-hearted stranger is capable of feeling for a beautiful child. Not love.”

“How little we knew each other, though for centuries our homes had shared walls. How little we will learn, now that all we share is a border.”

 “I can almost always get a clear read on people. Each mind swims in its skull before me like a fish in a glass bowl. But with Aisha right now…… I can’t see clearly how she feels about Simran. The water is murky, the glass frosted.”

“It’s such a miraculous device, a voice. I never knew how miraculous when I had one.”

Image source: GoodReads

Book Review: Aisle Be Damned by Rishi Piparaiya

Title: Aisle Be Damned

Author: Rishi Piparaiya

Publisher: Jaico Books

Pages: 216
Price: Rs 250

Genre: Non Fiction / Humour

Rating: 9/10

Format: Paperback

The moment I saw this book, I was immediately taken in by its unusual cover page and the title. Both do justice to the theme of this book. ‘Aisle Be Damned’ is a work of non-fiction that finds humour in every aspect of air travel. The humour is not forced. What really works in this book is that the author has pulled out some common observations which anyone with air travel experience can relate to. I finished this book in one sitting and laughed a lot till the end. Every person who has done a bit of air travel will get the humour in this book.  

By virtue of being a frequent traveler, the author offers loads of wisdom and suggestions on how to make the most of your air travel, peppered with plenty of humour. He has thought of everything, right from the baggage trolleys to airport, the boarding strategies to seats one must opt for, trivia and funny anecdotes related to air travel from around the world, and several such pieces that will tickle your funny bone. He tells you stuff like when are the business tycoons likely to travel, how can you get your economy class ticket upgraded to business class, how to choose your seat well, how to handle immigration officer, etc.

The author confesses at one point that several publishers found this book niche, but air travel has become so common that I am certain there is a huge target audience for this book.

It was a fun book to read, except perhaps the last chapter [Commerce, Literature and Zen] which looks a little forced. The book is perfect without that extra chapter. You must pick it up if you are feeling a little down or feeling stressed, this book will instantly perk you up. This can also make a nice gift. The only prerequisite for enjoying this book is a little experience of air travel. It is one of those books which you can pick any time [even after you have read it], read random lines again; and it will still give you a few laughs.

Here are few funny lines from the book:

[During Immigration] He will languidly open your passport, look at the photograph, look at you, then look back at the photograph. You can see the nuts and bolts in his brain rasping, straining to draw some correlation to the grotesque face in the photograph and the pasted smile standing in front of him, but there is none…….He lets it go though – it’s not the right time or place to empathize with you on the shortcomings of your gene pool.”

 “I am always on a first name basis with anyone from Sri Lanka, neither of us being able to pronounce the other’s last name.”

“There is a sign above the basin that says the water is not for drinking. Okay, thanks for letting me know. Because I usually love to drink water from bathrooms.”

“An experienced pilot earns well over $100,000 and flies about 800 hours a year. That’s $125 an hour for essentially playing Flight Stimulator. He has no monthly goals, no boss and all his colleagues are hot. The job calls for some travel yes, but stay is at luxury hotels, meals are included and life is one long MTV Grind party.”

Note: The text in italics have been quoted from the book.

Review Book courtesy: Jaico Books 

Image source: Jaico Books 

Book Review: Meena Kumari by Vinod Mehta

Title: Meena Kumari - The Classic Biography

Author: Vinod Mehta

Publisher: HarperCollins India

Pages: 248 
Price: Rs 350

Genre: Non Fiction / Biography / Films

Rating: 8/10

Format: Paperback

I read about this book somewhere and then chanced upon a chapter in The Greatest Show on Earth. Life of a movie star is intriguing and there is a dearth of such biographies about any Indian film star. I don’t know why I wanted to read about Meena Kumari. I haven’t even seen too many of her films, and it was from my mother. I first came to know that Meena Kumari was known as the tragedy queen. In fact, people of her generation had started using the term ‘Meena Kumari’ as a word for ‘sad’ [in the way, the term ‘Devdas’ is still used]. So, when people would say “don’t be a Meena Kumari”! They would mean ‘sad and melodramatic’. Whether she was one of the best actors of all times is highly debatable, but certainly her life was intriguing.

This book was written in 1972, immediately after her demise [republished in 2013]. The author confesses “I found that it was impossible to collect even one ‘undisputed’ fact about this woman. Everything connected with her life had atleast four versions" [quoted]. He never met the actor. He admits that facts and opinions were piling up and weighing him down, and without being over-ambitious, what he sought to achieve was to offer a few glimpses of who Meena Kumari really was; for who can really claim to know a person completely.

The book begins with everyone’s reaction on Meena Kumari’s death. The chapter is interestingly titled “Lies” to connote how all the reactions by film industry as well as media were superficial. The various chapters in this book tell us about the circumstances she was born into, her family, her early life, her romance with Kamal Amrohi, her journey as an actress [which started at the tender age of seven] as well as her turbulent personal life, her various relationships, her addiction to alcohol, her self-inflicted depression, the most important movie of her life - Pakeezah, Meena Kumari – the actress, Meena Kumari – the woman, and her death [few weeks after Pakeezah’s release]. Even with her disturbed personal life and poor health, she worked relentlessly and did very well professionally.

“Despite unreliable lovers, despite unreliable alcohol, despite unreliable dinner, despite unreliable friends, she had Bahu Begum, Manjhli Didi, Noor Jehan, Abhilasha in various stages of completion. All of which goes to prove that India’s No. 1 tragedienne did not live by bread alone.” [Quoted]

Her alcoholism is legendary. But surprisingly, she drank seriously only for three years. What started as a small peg to cure her insomnia later became addiction. This continued till she died of cirrhosis of the liver.

“The question is how could she stop drinking. She had as she saw it, no emotional support; her family life was not exactly ideal; and the possibilities for the future looked extremely grim. In these circumstances she needed a crutch, and for people the world over in her state the bottle has been the most potent, if disastrous, crutch.” [Quoted]

Meena Kumari as a person was known to be generous, attentive and empathetic. The author believes that most of her pain and depression was self-inflicted because she felt she was let down by her relationships. She did not get love, and fell into the trap of her screen image. Perhaps she always missed a part of her life she never lived – a normal childhood. Isn’t it widely known the world over, the fate of most of the child actors?

“The great tragedienne Meena Kumari became the great tragedienne not only in front of the camera but behind it. And this is the real sorrow, she aided the latter.” [Quoted]

I liked the book. May be I haven’t read any outstanding biography to compare it with, but generally speaking, I liked reading about the many aspects of Meena Kumari’s life. There aren’t too many biographies or autobiographies of Indian film stars, and if you like this genre, I certainly recommend it. It is always interesting to know interesting people. 

Read an excerpt from the book here.

Review Book courtesy: HarperCollins India 

Image source: Flipkart

Book Review: Pakeezah by Meghnad Desai

Title: Pakeezah - An Ode To A Bygone World

Author: Meghnad Desai

Publisher: HarperCollins India

Pages: 160

Price: Rs 250

Genre: Non Fiction / Film

Rating: 8/10

Format: Paperback

About the Book [from the blurb]

An entertaining look at one of the landmarks of Hindi cinema.

Meghnad Desai tracks the film’s tortuous journey and reveals fascinating, little-known aspects of it. He foregrounds the craftsmanship, perseverance and perfectionism of its maker, Kamal Amrohi, who would wait weeks for the perfect sunset. The director even took on MGM, because the CinemaScope lenses they supplied were out of focus by 1/1000 mm.

Desai sees the film as a ‘Muslim social’ set in a ‘Lucknow of the Muslim imagination’; as a woman-centric film with a dancing heroine at a time when they were a rarity; and above all, as a film that harked back to an era of ‘nawabi culture with its exquisite tehzeeb’, a world that is lost forever.

Pakeezah: An Ode to a Bygone World is a fitting tribute to a film that Meghnad Desai calls ‘a monument to the golden age of Hindustani films’.

My thoughts:

I love reading about films, especially Indian films. I feel there is a dearth of literature in this genre despite the fact that so many films are made every year in India and the fact that we recently completed 100 years of Indian cinema. I think it is commendable that HarperCollins India saw the need. This book is part of the recently released HarperCollins India’s Film Series, which also includes books on Amar Akbar Anthony and Mughal-e-Azam.

The author of this book, Meghnad Desai, says that “if there has been a film which has captured Muslim culture of a certain period albeit with contemporary resonance, it has to be Kamal Amrohi’s Pakeezah.”

His approach is methodical in analyzing ‘Pakeezah’ - what makes this movie iconic. He discusses every aspect of the film to offer a complete perspective - the story, the origins, the making, the rewriting, the many themes in the movie, the man behind the movie - Kamal Amrohi, the stars of the movie and the unforgettable music. Take for example, the story. By culling information from various sources about the film, he speculates on what the original story might have been and how it must have been modified over a period of time, considering the movie took 15 years to complete, Meena Kumari’s health deteriorated towards the end and interpersonal dynamics changed a great deal between Kamal Amrohi and his wife, Meena Kumari. Did you know that the movie initially did not get a good response on its release? But probably Meena Kumari’s untimely death within a month of its release piqued people’s curiosity and they started queuing up to watch the great tragedy queen in one of her most memorable roles of her career. If Pakeezah could not have been made without Kamal Amrohi, it is hard to imagine Pakeezah without Meena Kumari as well.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone who loves reading about films. After all, the making of a movie is as fascinating as the movie itself; more so, a classic. Imagine we are talking about the times when scripts weren’t finalized before filming; they were developed on the sets, on locations, under the influence of a lot of things. At 150 pages, this book isn’t too long, though may be a few times repetitive. Nevertheless, I personally loved it. It offers a lot of insights, observations and information about the film, and at the same time quite easy to read.

Review Book courtesy: HarperCollins India 

Image source: Flipkart

Book Review: Kaurava by Krishna Udayasankar

Title: Kaurava

Author: Krishna Udayasankar

Publisher: Hachette India

Pages: 384
Price: Rs 350

Genre: Fiction / Indian mythology / Alternative history

Rating: 7/10

Format: Paperback

About the book [from the Blurb]

Nothing left to fight for is nothing left to lose...

Emperor Dharma Yudhisthir of the Kauravas and Empress Panchali Draupadi rule over the unified realm of Aryavarta, an empire built for them by Govinda Shauri with the blessings of the Firstborn and by the might of those whom everyone believes long gone – the Firewrights.

Now the Firewrights rise from the ashes of the past, divided as before in purpose and allegiance, and no one, it seems, can stand in the way of the chaos about to be unleashed on the land – not the Firstborn, not the kings of Aryavarta, and not Govinda Shauri.

As sinister plans are put in play and treacherous alliances emerge, Aryavarta transforms into its own worst enemy. Dharma Yudhisthir gambles away his empire, the tormented empress is forced into a terrifying exile and the many nations of the realm begin to take up arms in a bid to fight, conquer and destroy each other.

His every dream shattered, Govinda is left a broken man. The only way he can protect Aryavarta and the woman in whose trusted hands he had left it is by playing a dangerous game. But can he bring himself to reveal the terrible secrets that the Vyasa has protected all his life – secrets that may well destroy the Firstborn, and the Firewrights with them? 

My thoughts:

I felt I was at a little disadvantage in reading this book before reading the Aryavarta Chronicles: Govinda [Book 1] because sometimes Firewright - Firstborn thing would be baffling. Nevertheless, the good thing is that we all know the basic Mahabharata so over all I enjoyed this book.

The story in this book begins at the time when Dharma Yudhisthir is the emperor of Indraprastha while Govinda Shauri [Krishna] has been shunned from the empire. In the turn of events, Dharma, his brothers and Panchali are invited by Syoddhan [Duryodhan] to Hastinapur, where he [Dharma] gets into a game of dice. This legendary game of dice is the one in which he loses everything including himself, his brothers and Panchali. The book ends with the promise of impending war in the third part of the series, aptly titled ‘Kurukshetra’.

Mahabharata, as we have known it, has been a story of larger-than-life men and women, and difficult-to-believe sequences. Now the unique aspect of this book is that it explains everything logically, and does not demonize anybody unnecessarily. In author’s own words, through this series, she attempts to offer “a plausible narrative with reasonable internal logical consistency. Something that could well have been history, something that stands firm not just on faith but also on logic and science.” She has imagined several new angles to the original story without compromising on what is widely known. Her research work has been meticulous and extensive, and therefore what you get is a book [and probably the series] which is compelling and very contemporary in its appeal. The author has spent sufficient time in building up characters like Shikhandi, Ashvatthama or Sanjay.

There are so many characters that the relationship chart in ‘the Dynasties of Aryavarta’ is not just a luxury but a necessity. ‘The Cast of Characters’, also provided in the beginning, tells us about the main characters in this book. The author has intentionally used alternate names so that the characters don’t have to carry the unnecessary baggage of their fame / notoriety. So, Krishna is Govinda Shauri while Duryodhan is Syoddhan Kauravya. It took me a while to understand that Vasusena is Karna. A reader well-versed with Mahabharata will find several characters in a different light. For example, Syoddhan is a largely positive or at most a grey character here while Dharma is too smug.

I loved the cover page. It reminded me of Hachette India’s another fabulous series Empire of the Mughal. The narrative is largely fast-paced barring a few times when certain things have been described in too much detail. I also found use of swear words funny like “Who in the name of an elephant’s backside are you talking about?”

I will certainly recommend it to readers who love exploring different facets of the epic tale ‘Mahabharata’. But you must have an open mind towards the author’s imagination. Meanwhile, I eagerly look forward to the next book in the series ‘Kurukshetra’. 

If you are yet to read the series, I suggest you begin with the first one: The Aryavarta Chronicles: Govinda (Book - 1)

Review Book courtesy: Hachette India 

Image source: Hachette India